This time they wrote a sunset and
an ice rink into the screenplay;
but guess what -
you’re still teaching me how to speak.

This 05 remake may be more slick
the air ten thick with monsters
displaying all the savagery that celluloid
and talons can convey

but though the hero lives to fight another day,
through the underbelly crawls
the thick lipped and the tom-tom
and the dance,

its heart of darkness beating
in Manhattan, and in Central Park.

No doubt I am the subject of a thousand
third-year studies: Sexuality and Gender,
Race; The Beast. A throwback
to that time with trees

silver-backed gorilla on his knees
cradling vocally-challenged blonde in fist.
Believe me, any guy would play the game
for a one-way ticket to the great US of A.

Treasure these warm moments, Anna
let them capture us soft-focused and serene
freeze-frame this New York skyscrape;

for below us, (ssh darling, miles!)
real beasts roam the sidewalks
willing Miss America to scream.